Caller Number Identification

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for improving caller identification in telecommunications services based on general-purpose networks are described. A gateway device may process invitation messages sent from a telephone via a private branch exchange, in which the private branch exchange has replaced the number of the telephone with a customized number. The gateway device may determine that the customized number is mapped to an account-related number, and insert that number into a field of the invitation messages that is examined by a telecommunications provider and associated trunking services for account-related purposes.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/920,153 filed on Oct. 22, 2015, the contents of which areincorporated by reference in their entirety as if fully set forthherein.

BACKGROUND

The users of a telecommunications service, such as those in callcenters, may sometimes wish to present a customized telephone number tothe recipients of their calls. For example, the operator of a callcenter may be interested in having the recipient of a call see arecognizable or useful number, such as a “1-800” number, rather than anumber associated with the particular phone that was used to initiatethe call. This might be accomplished by simply substituting the desiredexternal-facing number for the original telephone number in the callmessage information. However, particularly in the context oftelecommunications systems operating on general-purpose networks,controlling the external-facing telephone number may conflict with otherfeatures of the telecommunications system. For example, substituting acustomized external-facing number for an original number may interferewith billing processing which requires access to the originalnon-customized number. Likewise, fraud protection features of the systemmay require access to the non-customized number.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods for improving control of caller identification in atelecommunications network are described. In an example, acommunications network using a packet-based protocol, such as the voiceover Internet protocol (“VOIP”), can include a gateway device thatconnects a telephone (or other communications device) to atelecommunications services provider. In an example scenario, thegateway device may receive a message indicating that thetelecommunications provider should establish a call, or othercommunication session, between the originating device and a recipientdevice. The message may include information that enables the recipientdevice to apply a caller identification process to determine the phonenumber of the device that originated the call. However, because it maynot be desired to have the phone number of the device that originatedthe call displayed by the recipient device, the number of the devicethat originated the call may have been substituted with an alternatenumber, such as a toll-free number.

At the same time, the telecommunications provider and an associatedtrunking service may utilize a related process known as automatic numberidentification that is intended to provide a more reliable means ofidentifying the phone number of the device that originated the call. Toprovide this number, the gateway device may utilize a mapping betweenthe non-account phone number used for caller identification, and theaccount-related number to be utilized in automatic numberidentification. The non-account phone number may be mapped to an accountphone number. The gateway device may insert the account phone numberinto a header of the message, where the header may be utilized by theautomatic number identification process without interfering with thecaller identification process. During automatic number identification,the header containing the account phone number is examined prior toother headers that are also examined during caller identification. As aresult, the header may contain the account-related number withoutinterfering with the non-account phone number.

Additional advantages will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows or may be learned by practice. The advantages may be realizedand attained by the elements and combinations listed in the appendedclaims. Both the foregoing general description and the followingdetailed description are exemplary and explanatory only.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments or various aspectsthereof, and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the methods, systems, and computer program products.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting caller identifier override using a“diversion” field.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting header-inspection sequences forcaller identification and automatic number identification.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting a telecommunications providergateway.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting aspects of a telecommunicationsprovider gateway.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting a process of performing calleridentification override.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting various aspects of a computingenvironment in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The methods and systems described herein may involve calleridentification function in telecommunications systems that operate overgeneral-purpose networks. A VOIP communications system may, for example,provide voice, facsimile, or video communications capabilities over anIP-based network. These capabilities may involve a number ofVOIP-compatible telephones or other devices operating within a callcenter. Typically, the telephones may be in communication with anon-premises private branch exchange (“PBX”) and, through the PBX, with agateway device provided by a telecommunications provider. When a call,or other communication session, is initiated by one of the telephones,it is routed through the PBX and gateway devices to a trunking service,and from there on to another telephonic device that receives the call. Acommunication session or call may refer to an active or pending statefor various modes of communication, such as a voice call, facsimilecall, audiovisual communication, and so on. The recipient device willtypically display information, obtained through a process sometimesreferred to as caller identification, which indicates the identity ofthe caller. However, it may be the case that a customized number, suchas a toll-free number or a main office number, is preferred to thenumber associated with the initiating device. The operator of the callcenter may, for example, wish to provide recipients of calls originatingfrom the call center with a “1-800” number rather than the particularphone number associated with the device used to initiate the call.

A telephone number associated with the initiating device may be referredto as an account phone number. The account phone number associated withthe initiating device may be used by the telecommunications provider,the trunking service, or other aspects of the telecommunications systemfor purposes such as billing, call typing, call translation, and fraudprotection. A non-account phone number, on the other hand, may bepresented to the device that is the recipient of a call, even when thenon-account number is not the actual phone number of the device used toinitiate the call.

Telecommunications providers and trunking services, in some instances,do not allow for non-account phone numbers to be provided, or maydisable functions that rely on the inclusion of the account phone numberwhen its substitution with a non-account phone number is permitted. Forexample, telecom providers may disallow or disable functions such asautomatic number identification, which assumes that an accurate accountphone number has been provided, when they wish to allow account phonenumbers to be substituted with non-account phone numbers. Disablingautomatic number identification prevents a non-account phone number frombeing inaccurately presented as an account phone number during automaticnumber identification, but may also itself lead to call misrouting andfraud.

The operation of the telecommunications providers and trunking servicesinvolved in a call may not be controlled by a single provider. Forexample, the provider of telecommunications services to a call centermay not be the same provider that completes initiation of the terminalend of a call. The various telecommunications providers involved incompleting a call may operate according to various standard orprotocols, such as session initiation protocol (“SIP”), in order tofacilitate interoperation between telecommunications providers. Theoperation of automatic number identification and caller identificationmay be fixed according to standards such as SIP. A telecommunicationsprovider may, however, in accordance with techniques disclosed herein,provide customized phone numbers for caller identification withoutinterfering with the operation of telecommunications providers thatadhere to a standard such as SIP.

A VOIP-based telecommunications service may include equipment such as agateway device that is installed at a call center or other customerlocation. The gateway may sometimes be referred to as customer-premisesequipment (“CPE”). The gateway or other CPE may, in some embodiments, beconfigured to perform operations that enable non-account phone numbersto be displayed by the recipient device while still allowing automaticnumber identification services to function.

When a telephone initiates a call, it may transmit an invitationmessage. At this juncture the invitation message may contain the accountphone number associated with the initiating telephone. A PBX may thenintercept the invitation message and replace the account phone numberwith a non-account phone number. By so doing, the PBX is effectivelyobscuring the source of the call, which, as noted above, may interferewith functions such as automatic number identification.

The gateway device may further process invitation messages received fromthe PBX. In particular, the gateway may be configured to use a set ofmappings between account and non-account phone numbers in order to applya call screening rule. The rule may involve determining that thenon-account phone number placed in the invitation message by the PBXcorresponds to an entry in the set of mappings. If so, the gatewaydevice may then apply a header manipulation rule in which the accountphone number is reinserted into the invitation message. The accountphone number may be reinserted into a portion of the message that allowsfor the account phone number to be used with automatic numberidentification but does not interfere with the use of the non-accountphone number for caller identification. For example, the system mayleverage a discrepancy in the type and order of message headers that areinspected during caller identification as compared to automatic numberidentification. A message header sometimes referred to as a “diversion”field is normally used to support call forwarding. The “diversion” fieldis inspected first during automatic number identification, but is nottypically inspected by caller identification services. Accordingly,reinsertion of the account phone number into the “diversion” field cansupport the use of the account phone number in automatic numberidentification without disrupting the use of the non-account phonenumber for caller identification.

A field may refer to some portion of the message that may be used tocarry information pertinent to some aspect of initiating, continuing, orterminating a call or other communications session. A field maysometimes be referred to as a header of the message. A header, or field,may sometimes be described as metadata. A field, header, or metadata maybe included in various portions of the messaged, or may be separate fromthe message.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting caller identifier override using a“diversion” field. A VOIP telecommunications system may comprise a PBX104 in communication with a telecommunications provider gateway 112. Thegateway 112 may be in communication with resources of an originatingtelecommunications provider 120, which may include trunking and otherservices, and which may contact a terminating telecommunicationsprovider 121 to complete initiation of the call to the recipient phone122.

A customer of the originating telecommunications provider 120 maymaintain an internal network 100, which may include various VOIP-basedcommunications devices. These VOIP-based communications devices caninclude phones 108 and 110, which may be in communication with the PBX104 typically through IP-based networking protocols. The PBX 104 mayroute a request to initiate a call from one of the phones 108 or 110 tothe telecommunications provider gateway 112, which may then route therequest to the originating telecommunications provider 120 over theexternal network 118. The telecommunications provider may then route thecall to a call recipient, such as another phone 122 that is outside ofthe internal network 100.

The originating telecommunications provider 120 may maintain usage orbilling information pertaining to calls originating from or otherwiseinvolving the phones 108 and 110 that are part of the customer'sinternal network 100. The maintenance of usage or billing informationmay involve tracking the usage pertaining to the individual phones 108and 110. An identifier such as a direct inward-dialing phone number maybe associated with each of the phones 108-110. A direct inward-dialingphone number may be an example of an account phone number.

The originating telecommunications provider 120 may use an account phonenumber to determine which of the phones 108 or 110 is involved inoriginating a call. Accordingly, the originating telecommunicationsprovider 120 may examine call traffic to determine the account phonenumber of a device that is initiating or otherwise participating in acall.

Determining the account phone number associated with the originator of acall may comprise examination of metadata included in messagestransmitted from a device, such as a phone 108, that is initiating acall. The information may be included in one or more headers in themessage. For example, in VOIP applications, the SIP protocol may involvetransmission of various messages that may contain portions such as a“diversion” field, a “p-asserted-identity” field, or a “from” field.

A SIP feature, sometimes referred to as automatic number identification,may involve examination of the headers in order to locate the accountphone number associated with the phone 108 initiating the call.Automatic number identification may is similar to typicalcaller-identification services, but is designed to function, fortracking purposes, even when caller-identification is blocked.

There may be circumstances, however, where the operator of internalnetwork 100 does not desire to present an account phone number, such asa direct inward-dialing number, to the recipient of a call. For example,a customer (not shown) of the originating telecommunication provider 120might wish to present the same toll-free number to a recipient of acall, regardless of which of the depicted phones 108 or 110 originatesthe call. One approach to this problem involves PBX 104 performing areplacement operation 124 to insert the toll-free number in place of theaccount phone number. However, replacing the account phone number mightinterfere with automatic number identification that may be used by theoriginating telecommunications provider 120 to associate the call withan account, or to perform other functions that require the account phonenumber.

A telecommunications provider gateway 112 may apply a call screeningrule 116 to outbound calls. The call screening rule 116 may compare aphone number included in an outbound message to a number mapping 106.The number mapping 106 may comprise a list or other structure maintainedon a storage device in communication with the telecommunicationsprovider gateway 112. The number mapping 106 can include informationthat describes logical relationships between non-account phone numbersand account phone numbers. If the number mapping 106 includes an entryfor a non-account phone number included in the outbound message, thetelecommunications provider gateway 112 may apply a header rule 114. Theheader rule 114 may add an additional field, such as a “diversion”field, that includes the account phone number. The outgoing message,upon transmission from the telecommunications provider gateway 112, maythen include both the account phone number and the non-account phonenumber in separate headers.

The originating telecommunications provider 120 and terminatingtelecommunications provider 121, as well as other components that mightprocess call-related messages, can apply caller identification andautomatic number identification procedures according toheader-inspection sequences associated with each technology. Typically,the originating telecommunications provider 120 performs automaticnumber identification and the terminating telecommunications provider121 performs caller identification.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting header-inspection sequences forcaller identification and automatic number identification. In caseswhere SIP or some other call initiation procedure is used, thedifferences between a caller identification procedure 200 and anautomatic phone number identification procedure 210 may enablefunctioning of both the caller identification procedure 200 and theautomatic phone number identification procedure 210.

The caller identification procedure 200 may involve inspection of headerinformation included in portions of a SIP invite message, or othermessage traffic associated with establishing communication between twoendpoints. The order of inspection may, as is the case with a SIP invitemessage, follow the order of first examining a “p-asserted-identity”field 202 that might be included in the message. If the“p-asserted-identity” field 202 is present in the SIP invite message anda phone number included within it, that number may be used for calleridentification. If the “p-asserted-identity” field 202 is not present ordoes not include a phone number, the “from” field 204 may be examined.If the “from” field 204 contains a phone number, it may be used forcaller identification.

The automatic phone number identification procedure 210 may involveinspecting headers according to the sequence depicted in FIG. 2. The“diversion” field 212 may be inspected first, and if the “diversion”field 212 is present and contains a phone number, that number may beused for automatic number identification. If the number is not found inthe “diversion” field 212, then “p-asserted-identity” field 202 may beinspected. Next, if the number was found in neither the “diversion”field 212 nor the “p-asserted-identity” field 202, the “from” field 204may be inspected.

As depicted by the example of FIG. 2, a call initiation protocol such asSIP may perform caller identification procedures using a sequence ofheader inspection that overlaps the sequence used for phone numberidentification. For example, phone number identification may involveinspection of a first header, and second header, and a third header.Caller identification, in this example, may involve the inspection ofthe second header and the third header. Accordingly, the two sequencesoverlap. A non-overlapping portion of the sequence may be used toidentify the phone number without disturbing caller identification. Inthe example depicted by FIG. 2, the non-overlapping portion is the“diversion” field 212.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting a telecommunications providergateway 324 processing SIP invite messages. The telecommunicationsprovider gateway 324 may apply a call screening rule 326 and a headerrule 328 to SIP messages originating from a phone 300. Application ofthese rules may enable use of a non-account phone number for calleridentification and an account phone number for automatic numberidentification.

The phone 300 may transmit an invite message 302. The invite message 302may be, for example, a SIP invite message providing instructions toinitiate a call to a recipient device (not shown) throughtelecommunications provider 332. The invite message 302 may contain oneor more of a “p-asserted-identity” field 308 and a “from” field 314. Thephone 300 may include in either or both of these headers the phonenumber associated with phone 300. This phone number may be an accountphone number that could be used to associate the call originated byphone 300 with an account for purposes such as billing.

A PBX 322 may receive the invite message 302 and form a second versionof the invite header 304, in which instances of the account phone numberin the “p-asserted-identity” field 308 and/or the “from” field 314 arereplaced with a non-account phone number. The non-account phone numbermay, for example, be a toll-free number that the operator of the PBX 322wishes to present to recipients of the call in lieu of an account phonenumber associated with the phone 300. The “p-asserted-identity” field310 and the “from” field 316 in the second version of the invite message304 may be carried over or copied from the first version of the invitemessage 302, without changing their respective values.

The PBX 322 may then forward the second version of the invite message304 to a telecommunications provider gateway 324. The telecommunicationsprovider gateway 324 may act as an interface between a local IP network(not shown), to which the phone 300 and the PBX 322 may be connected,and a telecommunications provider 322. The telecommunications provider324 may include a module for applying a call screening rule 326 and aheader rule 328. The modules may apply the call screening rule 326 andthe header rule 328 based on mappings between non-account phone numbersand account phone numbers stored in a number mapping 330. As describedherein, the call screening rule 326 may determine if the second versionof the invite message 304 contains a number for which a mapping existsin the number mapping 330. If so, the module may apply the header rule328 by inserting an account phone number into the invite message. Thismay involve creating a third version of the invite message 306, in whicha “diversion” field 320 has been added. The “diversion” field 320 mayinclude the account phone number originally included in the“p-asserted-identity” field 308 and/or the “from” field 314 of theoriginal version of the invite message 302. The “p-asserted-identity”field 312 and the “from” field 318 in the third version of the invitemessage 306 may be carried over or copied from the second version of theinvite message 304.

The telecommunications provider 332 may receive the third version of theinvite message 306 and, in response, cause the message to be processedaccording to the session initiation protocol. This may compriseperforming caller identification and automatic number identification asdepicted in FIG. 2, and may also comprise performing operations such ascall authentication and routing using an account phone number identifiedin the “diversion” field 320 using automatic number identification.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting aspects of a telecommunicationsprovider gateway 400. A telecommunications provider gateway may include,and is sometimes referred to as, an integrated access device, anenterprise SIP gateway, or a customer premise device. Typically, thetelecommunications provider gateway 400 may be located at a siteoperated by a customer of a telecommunications provider, and may act toconnect telecommunications devices, including a customer-operated PBX,to the telecommunications provider.

The telecommunications provider gateway 400 may comprise variousmodules. A module may comprise computer-executable instructions storedon a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a random accessmemory, a solid-state storage device, and so on. The computer-executableinstructions, when executed, may cause various operations associatedwith the module to be performed. A module may also, in some instances,comprise additional circuitry or various other hardware devices that areassociated with performing various operations associated with themodule. It will be appreciated that the term “module” is used todescribe areas of related functionality, and that, in various aspects,operations described as being performed by a particular module may becombined with other modules, in various permutations. Accordingly, theuse of the term “module” should not be viewed as limiting the scope ofthe present disclosure, unless explicitly indicated to the contrary.

The telecommunications provider gateway 400 may comprise an accessmodule 402. The access module 402 may act as a bridge betweentelecommunications traffic on the customer's network and an externalnetwork, such as the Internet, over which telecommunications traffic isdirected to the telecommunications provider. The access module 402 mayreceive traffic, such as invite messages transmitted over an IP network,and may forward the traffic to the external network. The access module402 may invoke a call screening module 406 in response to receiving amessage, in order to determine if a header module 404 should be invokedto add a “diversion” field to the message. The messages processed inthis manner may include invite messages, or other message types that maybe used with caller identification or automatic number identification.

The call screening module 406 and the header module 404 may interactwith a mapping module 408. The mapping module 408 may include a list,database, table, file, or other structure stored on a memory device andinstructions for storing and retrieving number mappings using thestructure. In some instances, the mapping module 408 may includeinstructions for retrieving number mapping data maintained on a deviceexternal to the telecommunications provider gateway. The externallocation might be, for example, a database located at a site operated bythe telecommunications provider.

The content of the structure containing the mapping may compriseinformation that maps from non-account phone numbers to account phonenumbers. For example, a customer of the telecommunications providermight supply to the provider a list of non-account phone numbers thatmay be inserted, by the customer's PBX, into invite messages. Thenumbers in the list may then be stored in the structure along with anassociated account phone number.

The call screening module 406 may determine that a number included in aninvite message (for example, in a “p-asserted-identity” field or a“from” field) is the subject of a mapping contained in the structure. Ifso, it may then cause the header module 404 to be invoked. The headermodule 404 may then cause a “diversion” field to be added to themessage, thereby forming a version of the message that contains both thenon-account phone number supplied by the PBX and an account-numbersupplied by the telecommunications provider gateway 400.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting a process of performing calleridentification override. Although FIG. 5 is depicted as a sequence ofblocks, the depicted sequence should not be construed as limiting thescope of the present disclosure. In various cases, aspects, andembodiments, the blocks and depicted operations may be altered, omitted,reordered, or performed in parallel.

As depicted by block 500, an aspect of an embodiment may maintainmappings between non-account phone numbers and account phone numbers.For example, referring to FIG. 4, a telecommunications provider gateway400 may include functionality for storing and retrieving mapping data.The mapping data may indicate, for a given non-account phone number, oneor more account phone numbers that are associated with the non-accountphone number. The mapping might include a direct mapping from anon-account phone number to an account phone number, or it might includeinformation that allows an account phone number to be selected based ona non-account phone number and additional information that might beincluded in the invite message or supplied to the telecommunicationsprovider gateway 400 through some other avenue.

The telecommunications provider gateway 400 may, as depicted by block502, receive an invite message from a phone on an internet network thathas initiated a call. Although the phone may be associated with anaccount phone number, a PBX may have replaced that number with anon-account phone number.

The telecommunications provider gateway may, as depicted by block 504,determine that the non-account phone number included in the invitemessage is mapped to an account phone number. The determination may bemade responsive to the receipt of the invite message. The determinationmay be based on the mapping information referred to by the descriptionof block 500.

Block 506 depicts that the telecommunications provider gateway may add a“diversion” field to the invite message. The “diversion” field mayinclude the account phone number it obtained based on the mappingbetween non-account and account phone numbers.

Block 508 depicts that the telecommunications provider gateway 400 mayforward a version of the invite message to a VOIP provider. The versionof the invite message may include the “diversion” field containing theaccount phone number. Upon receipt of the invite message from thetelecommunications provider gateway 400, the telecommunications providermay perform caller identification using the non-account phone number andautomatic number identification using the account phone number.

FIG. 6 depicts a computing device that may be used in various aspects,such as the telecommunications provider gateway 112 depicted in FIG. 1.The computer architecture shown in FIG. 6 may correspond to a gatewaydevice, a set-top box, home automation system, desktop computer, laptop,tablet, network appliance, e-reader, smartphone, or other computingdevice, and may be utilized to execute any aspects of the computersdescribed herein, such as to implement the operating procedures of FIG.5.

A computing device 600 may include a baseboard, or “motherboard,” whichis a printed circuit board to which a multitude of components or devicesmay be connected by way of a system bus or other electricalcommunication paths. One or more central processing units (“CPUs”) 604may operate in conjunction with a chipset 606. CPU(s) 604 may bestandard programmable processors that perform arithmetic and logicaloperations necessary for the operation of computing device 600.

The CPU(s) 604 may perform the necessary operations by transitioningfrom one discrete physical state to the next through the manipulation ofswitching elements that differentiate between and change these states.Switching elements may generally include electronic circuits thatmaintain one of two binary states, such as flip-flops, and electroniccircuits that provide an output state based on the logical combinationof the states of one or more other switching elements, such as logicgates. These basic switching elements may be combined to create morecomplex logic circuits including registers, adders-subtractors,arithmetic logic units, floating-point units, and the like.

The CPU(s) 604 may, in various embodiments, be augmented with orreplaced by other processing units, such as GPU(s) (now shown). GPU(s)may comprise processing units specialized for but not necessarilylimited to highly parallel computations, such as graphics and othervisualization-related processing.

A chipset 606 may provide an interface between the CPU(s) 604 and theremainder of the components and devices on the baseboard. The chipset606 may provide an interface to a random access memory (“RAM”) 608 usedas the main memory in the computing device 600. The chipset 606 mayfurther provide an interface to a computer-readable storage medium, suchas a read-only memory (“ROM”) 620 or non-volatile RAM (“NVRAM”) (notshown), for storing basic routines that may help to start up thecomputing device 600 and to transfer information between the variouscomponents and devices. ROM 620 or NVRAM may also store other softwarecomponents necessary for the operation of the computing device 600 inaccordance with the aspects described herein.

The computing device 600 may operate in a networked environment usinglogical connections to remote computing nodes and computer systemsthrough a local area network (“LAN”) 616. The chipset 606 may includefunctionality for providing network connectivity through a networkinterface controller (NIC) 622, such as a gigabit Ethernet adapter. TheNIC 622 may be capable of connecting the computing device 600 to othercomputing nodes over the network 616. It should be appreciated thatmultiple NICs 622 may be present in the computing device 600, connectingthe computing device to other types of networks and remote computersystems.

The computing device 600 may be connected to a mass storage device 610that provides non-volatile storage for the computing device 600. Themass storage device 610 may store system programs, application programs,other program modules, and data, which have been described in greaterdetail herein. The mass storage device 610 may be connected to computingdevice 600 through a storage controller 624 connected to the chipset606. The mass storage device 610 may consist of one or more physicalstorage units. A storage controller 624 may interface with the physicalstorage units through a serial attached SCSI (“SAS”) interface, a serialadvanced technology attachment (“SATA”) interface, a fiber channel(“FC”) interface, or other type of interface for physically connectingand transferring data between computers and physical storage units.

The computing device 600 may store data on the mass storage device 610by transforming the physical state of the physical storage units toreflect the information being stored. The specific transformation of aphysical state may depend on various factors and on differentimplementations of this description. Examples of such factors mayinclude, but are not limited to, the technology used to implement thephysical storage units and whether the mass storage device 610 ischaracterized as primary or secondary storage and the like.

For example, the computing device 600 may store information to the massstorage device 610 by issuing instructions through the storagecontroller 624 to alter the magnetic characteristics of a particularlocation within a magnetic disk drive unit, the reflective or refractivecharacteristics of a particular location in an optical storage unit, orthe electrical characteristics of a particular capacitor, transistor, orother discrete component in a solid-state storage unit. Othertransformations of physical media are possible without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present description, with the foregoingexamples provided only to facilitate this description. The computingdevice 600 may further read information from mass storage device 610 bydetecting the physical states or characteristics of one or moreparticular locations within the physical storage units.

In addition to the mass storage device 610 described above, thecomputing device 600 may have access to other computer-readable storagemedia to store and retrieve information, such as program modules, datastructures, or other data. It should be appreciated by those skilled inthe art that computer-readable storage media may be any available mediathat provides for the storage of non-transitory data and that may beaccessed by the computing device 600.

By way of example and not limitation, computer-readable storage mediamay include volatile and non-volatile, transitory computer-readablestorage media and non-transitory computer-readable storage media, andremovable and non-removable media implemented in any method ortechnology. Computer-readable storage media includes, but is not limitedto, RAM, ROM, erasable programmable ROM (“EPROM”), electrically erasableprogrammable ROM (“EEPROM”), flash memory or other solid-state memorytechnology, compact disc ROM (“CD-ROM”), digital versatile disk (“DVD”),high definition DVD (“HD-DVD”), BLU-RAY, or other optical storage,magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage, other magneticstorage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store thedesired information in a non-transitory fashion.

The mass storage device 610 may store an operating system utilized tocontrol the operation of the computing device 600. According to oneembodiment, the operating system comprises a version of the LINUXoperating system. According to another embodiment, the operating systemcomprises a version of the WINDOWS SERVER operating system from theMICROSOFT Corporation. According to further aspects, the operatingsystem may comprise a version of the UNIX operating system. Variousmobile phone operating systems, such as IOS and ANDROID, may also beutilized in some embodiments. It should be appreciated that otheroperating systems may also be utilized. The mass storage device 610 maystore other system or application programs and data utilized by thecomputing device 600.

The mass storage device 610 or other computer-readable storage media mayalso be encoded with computer-executable instructions, which, whenloaded into the computing device 600, transforms the computing devicefrom a general-purpose computing system into a special-purpose computercapable of implementing the aspects described herein. Thesecomputer-executable instructions transform the computing device 600 byspecifying how the CPU(s) 604 transition between states, as describedabove. The computing device 600 may have access to computer-readablestorage media storing computer-executable instructions, which, whenexecuted by the computing device 600, may perform operating proceduresdepicted in FIG. 5.

The computing device 600 may also include an input/output controller 632for receiving and processing input from a number of input devices, suchas a keyboard, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, an electronicstylus, or other type of input device. Similarly, the input/outputcontroller 632 may provide output to a display, such as a computermonitor, a flat-panel display, a digital projector, a printer, aplotter, or other type of output device. It will be appreciated that thecomputing device 600 may not include all of the components shown in FIG.6, may include other components that are not explicitly shown in FIG. 6,or may utilize an architecture completely different than that shown inFIG. 6.

As described herein, a computing node may be a physical computingdevice, such as the computing device 600 of FIG. 6. A computing node mayalso include a virtual machine host process and one or more virtualmachine instances operating on a physical computing device, such as thecomputing device 600. Computer-executable instructions may be executedby the physical hardware of a computing device indirectly throughinterpretation and/or execution of instructions stored and executed inthe context of a virtual machine.

It is to be understood that the methods and systems are not limited tospecific methods, specific components, or to particular implementations.It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for thepurpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended tobe limiting.

As used in the specification and the appended claims, the singular forms“a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. Ranges may be expressed herein as from “about” oneparticular value, and/or to “about” another particular value. When sucha range is expressed, another embodiment includes¬ from the oneparticular value and/or to the other particular value. Similarly, whenvalues are expressed as approximations, by use of the antecedent“about,” it will be understood that the particular value forms anotherembodiment. It will be further understood that the endpoints of each ofthe ranges are significant both in relation to the other endpoint, andindependently of the other endpoint.

“Optional” or “optionally” means that the subsequently described eventor circumstance may or may not occur, and that the description includesinstances where said event or circumstance occurs and instances where itdoes not.

Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the word“comprise” and variations of the word, such as “comprising” and“comprises,” means “including but not limited to,” and is not intendedto exclude, for example, other components, integers or steps.“Exemplary” means “an example of” and is not intended to convey anindication of a preferred or ideal embodiment. “Such as” is not used ina restrictive sense, but for explanatory purposes.

Disclosed are components that can be used to perform the disclosedmethods and systems. These and other components are disclosed herein,and it is understood that when combinations, subsets, interactions,groups, etc., of these components are disclosed that while specificreference of each various individual and collective combinations andpermutation of these may not be explicitly disclosed, each isspecifically contemplated and described herein, for all methods andsystems. This applies to all aspects of this application including, butnot limited to, operations in disclosed methods. Thus, if there are avariety of additional operations that can be performed it is understoodthat each of these additional operations can be performed with anyspecific embodiment or combination of embodiments of the disclosedmethods.

The present methods and systems may be understood more readily byreference to the following descriptions of various aspects and theexamples included therein and to the figures and their descriptions.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the methods andsystems may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software andhardware aspects. Furthermore, the methods and systems may take the formof a computer program product on a computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-readable program instructions (e.g., computer software)embodied in the storage medium. More particularly, the present methodsand systems may take the form of web-implemented computer software. Anysuitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized including harddisks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

Embodiments of the methods and systems are described herein withreference to diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, systems,apparatuses and computer program products. It will be understood thateach block of the diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinationsof blocks in the diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively, canbe implemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be loaded on a general-purpose computer,special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processingapparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions which executeon the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create ameans for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including computer-readableinstructions for implementing the function specified in the flowchartblock or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loadedonto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process suchthat the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

The various features and processes described above may be usedindependently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. Allpossible combinations and sub-combinations are intended to fall withinthe scope of this disclosure. In addition, certain methods or processblocks may be omitted in some implementations. The methods and processesdescribed herein are also not limited to any particular sequence, andthe blocks or states relating thereto can be performed in othersequences that are appropriate. For example, described blocks or statesmay be performed in an order other than that specifically disclosed, ormultiple blocks or states may be combined in a single block or state.The example blocks or states may be performed in serial, in parallel, orin some other manner. Blocks or states may be added to or removed fromthe disclosed example embodiments. The example systems and componentsdescribed herein may be configured differently than described. Forexample, elements may be added to, removed from, or rearranged comparedto the disclosed example embodiments.

It will also be appreciated that various items are illustrated as beingstored in memory or on storage while being used, and that these items orportions thereof may be transferred between memory and other storagedevices for purposes of memory management and data integrity.Alternatively, in other embodiments, some or all of the software modulesand/or systems may execute in memory on another device and communicatewith the illustrated computing systems via inter-computer communication.Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the systems and/ormodules may be implemented or provided in other ways, such as at leastpartially in firmware and/or hardware, including, but not limited to,one or more application-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), standardintegrated circuits, controllers (e.g., by executing appropriateinstructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embeddedcontrollers), field-programmable gate arrays (“FPGAs”), complexprogrammable logic devices (“CPLDs”), etc. Some or all of the modules,systems, and data structures may also be stored (e.g., as softwareinstructions or structured data) on a computer-readable medium, such asa hard disk, a memory, a network, or a portable media article to be readby an appropriate device or via an appropriate connection. The systems,modules, and data structures may also be transmitted as generated datasignals (e.g., as part of a carrier wave or other analog or digitalpropagated signal) on a variety of computer-readable transmission media,including wireless-based and wired/cable-based media, and may take avariety of forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analogsignal, or as multiple discrete digital packets or frames). Suchcomputer program products may also take other forms in otherembodiments. Accordingly, the present invention may be practiced withother computer system configurations.

While the methods and systems have been described in connection withpreferred embodiments and specific examples, it is not intended that thescope be limited to the particular embodiments set forth, as theembodiments herein are intended in all respects to be illustrativerather than restrictive.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, it is in no way intended that anymethod set forth herein be construed as requiring that its operations beperformed in a specific order. Accordingly, where a method claim doesnot actually recite an order to be followed by its operations or it isnot otherwise specifically stated in the claims or descriptions that theoperations are to be limited to a specific order, it is no way intendedthat an order be inferred, in any respect. This holds for any possiblenon-express basis for interpretation, including: matters of logic withrespect to arrangement of steps or operational flow; plain meaningderived from grammatical organization or punctuation; and the number ortype of embodiments described in the specification.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made without departing from thescope or spirit of the present disclosure. Other embodiments will beapparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of thespecification and practices disclosed herein. It is intended that thespecification and example figures be considered as exemplary only, witha true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method comprising: receiving a first message comprising: a request to establish a communication session for an originating device; and a first identifier associated with the originating device; determining, based on stored information associated with the first identifier, a second identifier associated with account information associated with the originating device; generating a second message, comprising the first identifier and the second identifier, that is configured to cause access to the second identifier prior to the first identifier during an account identification process; and transmitting the second message to cause establishment of the communication session.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the second message further comprises inserting the first identifier into a first field and inserting the second identifier into a second field, wherein the second field is configured to be accessed prior to the first field during the account identification process.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein transmitting second message comprises transmitting the second message to a telecommunications provider.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: accessing, by the telecommunications provider, at least one of: the first identifier to retrieve caller identification information, or the second identifier to retrieve the account information.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the second message comprises a session initiation protocol (SIP) message.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first identifier is configured to be used during a SIP caller identification process and the second identifier is configured to be used during a SIP automatic number identification process.
 8. The method of claim 2, wherein the originating device is associated with a private branch exchange.
 9. The method of claim 2, wherein the stored information comprises at least one of: a list of a plurality of identifiers, wherein the first identifier is included in the list, or a mapping of a plurality of identifiers, wherein each identifier of the plurality of identifiers is mapped to account information.
 10. A device comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to: receive a first message comprising: a request to establish a communication session for an originating device; and a first identifier associated with the originating device; determine, based on stored information associated with the first identifier, a second identifier associated with account information associated with the originating device; generate a second message, comprising the first identifier and the second identifier, that is configured to cause access to the second identifier prior to the first identifier during an account identification process; and transmit the second message to cause establishment of the communication session.
 11. The device of claim 10, wherein generating the second message further comprises inserting the first identifier into a first field and inserting the second identifier into a second field, wherein the second field is configured to be accessed prior to the first field during the account identification process.
 12. The device of claim 10, wherein transmitting second message comprises transmitting the second message to a telecommunications provider.
 13. The device of claim 10, wherein the second message comprises a session initiation protocol (SIP) message.
 14. The device of claim 13, wherein the first identifier is configured to be used during a SIP caller identification process and the second identifier is configured to be used during a SIP automatic number identification process.
 15. The device of claim 10, wherein the originating device is associated with a private branch exchange.
 16. The device of claim 10, wherein the stored information comprises at least one of: a list of a plurality of identifiers, wherein the first identifier is included in the list, or a mapping of a plurality of identifiers, wherein each identifier of the plurality of identifiers is mapped to account information.
 17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising: receiving a first message comprising: a request to establish a communication session for an originating device; and a first identifier associated with the originating device; determining, based on stored information associated with the first identifier, a second identifier associated with account information associated with the originating device; generating a second message, comprising the first identifier and the second identifier, that is configured to cause access to the second identifier prior to the first identifier during an account identification process; and transmitting the second message to cause establishment of the communication session.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein generating the second message further comprises inserting the first identifier into a first field and inserting the second identifier into a second field, wherein the second field is configured to be accessed prior to the first field during the account identification process.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein transmitting second message comprises transmitting the second message to a telecommunications provider.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the second message comprises a session initiation protocol (SIP) message.
 21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the first identifier is configured to be used during a SIP caller identification process and the second identifier is configured to be used during a SIP automatic number identification process.
 22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the originating device is associated with a private branch exchange.
 23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the stored information comprises at least one of: a list of a plurality of identifiers, wherein the first identifier is included in the list, or a mapping of a plurality of identifiers, wherein each identifier of the plurality of identifiers is mapped to account information. 